High fidelity and high efficiency qubit readout scheme

ABSTRACT

A technique relates to a qubit readout system. A cavity-qubit system has a qubit and a readout resonator and outputs a readout signal. A lossless superconducting circulator is configured to receive the microwave readout signal from the cavity-qubit system and transmit the microwave readout signal according to a rotation. A quantum limited directional amplifier amplifies the readout signal. A directional coupler is connected to and biases the amplifier to set a working point. A microwave bandpass filter transmits in a microwave frequency band by passing the readout signal while blocking electromagnetic radiation outside of the microwave frequency band. A low-loss infrared filter has a distributed Bragg reflector integrated into a transmission line. The low-loss filter is configured to block infrared electromagnetic radiation while passing the microwave readout signal. The low-loss infrared filter is connected to the microwave bandpass filter to receive input of the microwave readout signal.

DOMESTIC PRIORITY

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/414,940 filed on Jan. 25, 2017, entitled “HIGH FIDELITY AND HIGHEFFICIENCY QUBIT READOUT SCHEME” which is a continuation of U.S. Pat.No. 9,589,236 issued Mar. 7, 2017, entitled “HIGH FIDELITY AND HIGHEFFICIENCY QUBIT READOUT SCHEME”, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to measurement techniques of sensitivequantum systems operating in the microwave domain, such assuperconducting quantum circuits, which require for their measurement,high gain, low-noise output chains that also provide sufficientprotection to the measured systems against noise and more specifically,to a high fidelity and high efficiency qubit readout scheme.

In one approach called circuit quantum electrodynamics, quantumcomputing employs nonlinear superconducting devices called qubits tomanipulate and store quantum information, and resonators (e.g., as atwo-dimensional (2D) planar waveguide or as a three-dimensional (3D)microwave cavity) to read out and facilitate interaction among qubits.As one example, each superconducting qubit may comprise one or moreJosephson junctions shunted by capacitors in parallel with thejunctions. The qubits are capacitively coupled to 2D or 3D microwavecavities. The electromagnetic energy associated with the qubit is storedin the Josephson junctions and in the capacitive and inductive elementsforming the qubit. To date, a major focus has been on improvinglifetimes of the qubits in order to allow calculations (i.e.,manipulation and readout) to take place before the information is lostdue to decoherence of the qubits. Currently, the coherence times ofsuperconducting qubits can be as high as 100 microseconds, and effortsare being made to increase their coherence times.

SUMMARY

According to one embodiment, a qubit readout system is provided. Acavity-qubit system includes a qubit and a readout resonator, where thecavity-qubit system is configured to output a microwave readout signal.A lossless superconducting circulator is configured to receive themicrowave readout signal from the cavity-qubit system and transmit themicrowave readout signal according to a rotation. A quantum limiteddirectional amplifier in which amplification takes place in onedirection, and the quantum limited directional amplifier is configuredto amplify the microwave readout signal. A directional coupleroperatively connected to the quantum limited directional amplifier, andthe directional coupler is configured to enable biasing of the quantumlimited directional amplifier to set a working point. A microwavebandpass filter configured to transmit in a microwave frequency band,and the microwave bandpass filter is configured to pass the microwavereadout signal while blocking electromagnetic radiation outside of themicrowave frequency band. The microwave bandpass filter is operativelyconnected to the quantum limited directional amplifier to receive inputof the microwave readout signal. A low-loss infrared filter has adistributed Bragg reflector integrated into a transmission line, and thelow-loss filter is configured to block infrared electromagneticradiation while passing the microwave readout signal. The low-lossinfrared filter is operatively connected to the microwave bandpassfilter to receive input of the microwave readout signal.

According to one embodiment, a method of configuring a microwaveapparatus is provided. The method includes providing a cavity-qubitsystem comprising a qubit and a readout resonator, where thecavity-qubit system is configured to output a microwave readout signal.The method includes configuring a lossless superconducting circulator toreceive the microwave readout signal from the cavity-qubit system andtransmit the microwave readout signal according to a rotation andconnecting a quantum limited directional amplifier to amplify themicrowave readout signal, such that amplification takes place in onedirection. Also, the method includes connecting a directional coupler tothe quantum limited directional amplifier, where the directional coupleris configured to enable biasing of at least one of the quantum limiteddirectional amplifier and the lossless superconducting circulator to seta working point and connecting a microwave bandpass filter configured totransmit in a microwave frequency band, where the microwave bandpassfilter is configured to pass the microwave readout signal while blockingelectromagnetic radiation outside of the microwave frequency band. Themicrowave bandpass filter is operatively connected to the quantumlimited directional amplifier to receive input of the microwave readoutsignal. Further, the method includes configuring a low-loss infraredfilter having a distributed Bragg reflector integrated into atransmission line, where the low-loss infrared filter is configured toblock infrared electromagnetic radiation while passing the microwavereadout signal, and where the low-loss infrared filter is operativelyconnected to the microwave bandpass filter to receive input of themicrowave readout signal.

Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniquesof the present invention. Other embodiments and aspects of the inventionare described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimedinvention. For a better understanding of the invention with theadvantages and the features, refer to the description and to thedrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter which is regarded as the invention is particularlypointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion ofthe specification. The forgoing and other features, and advantages ofthe invention are apparent from the following detailed description takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a distributed Bragg reflector to beutilized according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a schematic of a low-loss infrared filter implemented as adistributed Bragg reflector integrated into a stripline geometryaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the low-loss infrared filteraccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 4A is a schematic of an architecture/microwave apparatusincorporating the low-loss infrared filter according to an embodiment;

FIG. 4B is a schematic of an architecture/microwave apparatusincorporating the low-loss infrared filter according to anotherembodiment;

FIGS. 5A and 5B together illustrate a flow chart of a method ofconfiguring the microwave apparatus according to an embodiment; and

FIG. 6 is a graph illustrating a calculated reflection waveform andtransmission waveform versus frequency of one example of a low-lossinfrared filter according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

According to an embodiment, the proposed qubit readout scheme can beused to perform high fidelity and high efficiency quantum measurementsin the microwave domain, and particularly for the purpose of measuringthe quantum state of solid state qubits such as superconducting qubitsand quantum dots. An embodiment may be based on physics and microwavedevices. A few particular microwave components may include: 1) alossless on-chip circulator (lossless circulator), 2) a quantum-limitedJosephson directional amplifier, 3) a bandpass filter, and 4) a low-lossinfrared filter. None of these components, when examined separately,meet the requirements of high fidelity and high efficiency quantummeasurements. According to an embodiment, an architecture/setup isdisclosed that presents a measurement chain, and the measurement chaincombines components/devices in order to perform high fidelity and highefficiency quantum measurements. A benefit of this measurement chain isthat most of its components can be integrated on chip as part of aquantum processor or as a separate unit.

Quantum systems such as superconducting qubits are very sensitive toelectromagnetic noise, in particular in the microwave and infrareddomains. In order to protect these quantum systems from microwave andinfrared noise, several layers of filtering, attenuation, and isolationare applied. Of particular interest are the layers of protectionemployed on the input and output (I/O) lines, also called transmissionlines, that are connected to the quantum system, and carry the input andoutput signals to and from the quantum system respectively.

In the case of superconducting qubits, these I/O lines (transmissionlines) are microwave coaxial lines or waveguides. Some of the techniquesor components that are used in order to block or attenuate the noisepropagating or leaking into these transmission lines are attenuators,circulators, isolators, lowpass microwave filters, bandpass microwavefilters, and infrared filters which are based on lossy absorptivematerials. However, using these lossy infrared filters on the outputline is undesirable because the lossy infrared filters considerablydegrade the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the microwave signal that isused in the measurement of the quantum system.

Embodiments are configured to realize a low-loss infrared filter. Thelow-loss infrared filter blocks infrared radiation in the unwanted bandthat can negatively affect the quantum system, while simultaneouslyallowing microwave signals (e.g., (microwave) band 1-15 GHz commonlyused for qubit readout and measurement) to be transmitted through theinfrared filter with minimum loss.

Ideally, superconducting qubits need to be completely protected andisolated from unwanted electromagnetic signals and noise irradiated atthem from the environment or carried by the input and output linescoupled to them. One example of such unwanted noise is blackbodyradiation coming down the input and output lines which originates fromroom-temperature equipment or microwave components that reside at higherstages in the dilution fridge such as the 4 kelvin (K) plate. Hence, thespectrum of noise which qubits need to be protected against can be verybroad extending from tens of gigahertz to tens or even hundreds ofterahertz.

To better understand the spectrum of thermal noise that is most relevantto the noise carried by the input and output lines which pass throughthe different temperature stages of a dilution fridge, consider thesimple case of a resistor R at temperature T The RMS (root mean square)voltage created at the terminals of the resistor due to thermal noise isgiven by Planck's blackbody radiation law,

${V_{n}^{rms} = \sqrt{\frac{4\;{hfBR}}{e^{{hf}/{kT}} - 1}}},$where h is Planck's constant, k is Boltzmann's constant, B is thebandwidth of the system, and f is the frequency of the noise within thebandwidth B. Furthermore, the maximum available noise power from thisnoisy resistor is obtained by connecting it to a load of equalresistance

${P_{n} = {\left( \frac{V_{n}^{rms}}{2\; R} \right)^{2}R}},$which gives

$P_{n} = {\frac{hfB}{e^{{hf}/{kT}} - 1}.}$Although, this expression for P_(n) does not exactly describe the noiseentering the qubit system, mainly because the qubit is not a load ofresistance R and it is not directly coupled to the input and outputlines (i.e. it is dispersively coupled to a resonator which in turn iscoupled to the input and output lines), this expression for P_(n) showshowever in a rather simple manner the interrelationship between thetemperature of a resistor and the resultant noise spectrum.

The low-loss infrared filter in embodiments may be utilized in thereadout of solid state qubits such as superconducting qubits or quantumdots, and may also be utilized in the readout of any quantum systemworking in the microwave domain which requires protection from infraredradiation in a certain bandwidth. For example, the low-loss infraredfilter may be used on the output lines of qubits in order to protecttheir quantum state from infrared radiation in a certain bandwidthcoming down the output line from higher temperature stages withoutdegrading the signal-to-noise ratio of the output microwave signalmeasuring the qubit.

Also, embodiments may be applied to improve the sensitivity of microwavemeasurements in the areas of astronomy and cosmology, and the low-lossinfrared filter may be utilized in the transmission lines of themicrowave systems in these areas.

In microwave quantum systems such as superconducting qubits, T₁ refersto the “relaxation time” of the qubit, which in turn represents thecharacteristic time over which the qubit loses its energy to variousintrinsic and extrinsic dissipation mechanisms in the qubit circuit andthe environment. In other words, T₁ is a measure of how long it takesfor the excited state of the qubit to decay to the ground state. T₂ iscalled the “phase coherence time” of the qubit. T₂ is a measure of howlong the qubit maintains coherence in a phase that is predictable.

Infrared photons can decrease T₂ of superconducting qubits (and also T₁for example by generating non-equilibrium quasiparticles in the device).The qubit-cavity system (where cavity usually refers to asuperconducting microwave cavity) can be enclosed inside a blackinfrared-tight can, but the input and output coaxial lines of the qubitcan still carry infrared photons. Some of the potential infraredradiation sources in a dilution fridge include, the blackbody radiationof the 4 kelvin (K) stage, high frequency noise originating from theamplification chain especially the HEMT amplifier which is commonly usedin such experiments and mounted on the 4 K stage, thermal noisegenerated by the electronic equipment at room-temperature which is usedto control the qubit and read out its quantum state, and heat sources onthe various stages such as heaters, or microwave components that are notthermalized well.

Some issues concerning lossy infrared filters were discussed above. Afew examples of lossy infrared filters may include copper-powderfilters, resistive RLC meander line on-chip, eccosorb filters, slotlines in coaxial, and silver-epoxy filters. All of these examples ofinfrared filters are based on lossy materials. In general, the signalattenuation in these filters increases as the frequency increases. Theaddition of a lossy infrared filter to an input line of a qubit adds tothe total attenuation of the line. However adding it to the output linecan considerably degrade the SNR of the measurement of the microwavereadout signal. Furthermore, these lossy infrared filters are not verywell matched to the standard 50 ohm (Ω) measurement environment, andthis mismatch causes multiple reflections in the lines and ripples inthe microwave output signal (versus frequency). These lossy infraredfilters can have about a 5-20 decibel (dB) loss at the readoutfrequency.

According to an embodiment, a microwave apparatus is provided thatincludes a microwave system. The microwave system has an input and anoutput connected to low-loss infrared filters which in turn connect toinput and output microwave transmission lines. The input and outputmicrowave transmission lines carry microwave signals into and out of themicrowave system and carry in addition unwanted infrared radiation. Thelow-loss infrared filters which consist of distributed Bragg reflectorsintegrated into a transmission line configuration allow the input andoutput microwave signals to be transmitted into and out of the microwavesystem with little attenuation (e.g., below 2 dB) while blocking theunwanted infrared radiation in a certain bandwidth from reaching themicrowave system.

Now, turning to the low-loss infrared filter, FIG. 1 is across-sectional view of a distributed Bragg reflector 100 to be utilizedaccording to an embodiment. The distributed Bragg reflector 100 is aperiodic structure which consists of N layers of dielectric materials,where N is the total number of layers. The unit cell 110 of thisperiodic structure comprises two different dielectric layers D1 and D2.In this example, dielectric layer D1 has a first thickness t₁ anddielectric layer D2 has a second thickness t₂. The dielectric layers D1and D2 are adjacent to one another.

The dielectric layer D1 has a dielectric constant ∈₁ and the dielectriclayer D2 has a dielectric constant ∈₂. The dielectric constants ∈₁ and∈₂ are different values from one another. The combination of dielectriclayers D1 and D2 is designed to reflect a center wavelength denoted asλ_(R) (i.e., corresponding to a center frequency f_(R)), where R refersto the reflection coefficient for the electric field.

Given a particular dielectric constants ∈₁ and ∈₂ for the respectivedielectric layers D1 and D2, the following formulas can be utilized todetermine the respective thickness (e.g., in the z-axis) for eachdielectric layer D1 and D2.

For dielectric layer D1, the thickness t₁=λ_(R)/(4√{square root over(∈₁)}). For dielectric layer D2, the thickness t₂=λ_(R)/(4√{square rootover (∈₂)}). When an electromagnetic wave or beam is incident on theperiodic structure, part of the beam is reflected back at the boundariesof the alternating dielectric layers due to impedance mismatch, whilethe remaining part gets transmitted. By accounting for all thesemultiple reflections and transmissions, it is possible to define areflection parameter R and transmission parameter T for the wholestructure, which satisfy the energy conservation condition, |R|²+|T|²=1.In the special case, where the wavelengths of the incidentelectromagnetic waves in the different layers are equal to about 4 timesthe thicknesses of the layers, the multiple reflections at the variousboundaries constructively interfere together and result in totalreflection of the waves. Thus, the range of frequencies around thecenter frequency f_(R) for which the periodic structure acts as aperfect reflector defines the bandwidth of the device or in other wordsthe bandwidth of the photonic stopband of the device.

FIG. 2 is a schematic of a low-loss infrared filter 200 implemented toinclude the distributed Bragg reflector 100 in a stripline geometryaccording to an embodiment. The low-loss infrared filter 200 is matchedto 50 ohms in the 5-15 GHz microwave band that is commonly used forqubit readout, is low-loss in the 5-15 GHz band, and is reflective forinfrared (IR) photons in an unwanted band.

The low-loss infrared filter 200 includes an outer conductor 205. Theouter conductor 205 may be a three-dimensional rectangular copper box inone implementation. For example, the inner dimensions of the box (thathouse the alternating dielectric layers and the center conductor) can beabout 25 mm, 4 mm, 10 mm, along the x, y, z axes respectively. The wallsof the outer conductor 205 can be a few millimeters thick. The exactthickness of the enclosure can vary depending on the screws used toassemble the filter together and on the screws used in order to mountthe filter in the fridge. The outer conductor 205 (e.g., copper box)comprises N (total) dielectric layers 225. In this implementation, thedielectric layers D1 and D2 are shown, and the dielectric layers D1 andD2 form the unit cell 110 in the N (total) dielectric layers 225. Themultiple dielectric layers D1 and D2 repeat in the periodic arrangementwithin the outer conductor 205. In another implementation, the outerconductor 205 may be cylindrical instead of a rectangular.

A center conductor 210 extends, from end to end, through the center ofthe outer conductor 205. The center conductor 210 may be a thin copperstripline. The center conductor 210 and the outer conductor 205respectively connect to connectors 250A and 250B at opposite ends of thedevice 200 for transmitting and receiving signals. Although copper (inparticular, oxygen-free high thermal conductivity (OFHC) copper) may beutilized for the center conductor 210 and the outer conductor 205, othermaterials such as gold, and silver may also be utilized.

The connectors 250A and 250B may be any microwave connector, such assubminiature version A (SMA) connectors, K connectors, etc. In oneimplementation, the dielectric material in connectors 250A and 250B maybe Teflon with a dielectric constant ∈=2.1. The outer conductor of theconnectors is connected to the outer conductor 205 of the filter 200,whereas the center conductor of the connectors is connected to thecenter conductor 210 of the filter 200.

In one implementation, the alternating dielectric layers D1 and D2 maybe Si (∈=11.8) and SiO₂ (∈=3.9). In another implementation, thealternating dielectric layers D1 and D2 may be Si and Si₃N₄ (∈=7.5).Other well-characterized dielectric materials such as Ge (∈=16) and GaAs(∈=11-13) can also be considered as possible candidates. In general, thehigher the contrast in dielectric constants between the alternatingdielectric layers D1 and D2 (for the same number of layers N), thelarger the reflection magnitude at the center frequency f_(R) and alsothe broader the bandwidth of the reflection (i.e., the bandwidth of thephotonic stopband). One simple way to see this dependence is byconsidering the simple expressions for the reflection magnitude

${R^{DBR}}^{2} = {\frac{n_{2}^{N} - n_{1}^{N}}{n_{2}^{N} + n_{1}^{N}}}^{2}$and the reflection bandwidth

${\Delta\; f_{R}^{DBR}} = {\frac{4}{\pi}f_{R}^{DBR}{\sin^{- 1}\left( \frac{n_{2} - n_{1}}{n_{2} + n_{1}} \right)}}$of a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) that is not integrated into atransmission geometry and whose initial and final dielectric layers atthe two ends of the N-layer stack are made of the same material, wheren₁ and n₂ are the refraction indices of the alternating layers given byn₁=√{square root over (∈₁)}, n₂=√{square root over (∈₂)}, and f_(R)^(DBR) is the center frequency of the reflected signal. For example, fora stack of N=20 alternating dielectric layers with dielectric constants∈₁=3.9 and ∈₂=7.5, and f_(R) ^(DBR)=83 GHz, we get |R^(DBR)|²=0.96, andΔf_(R) ^(DBR)=12 GHz, whereas with ∈₁=3.9 and ∈₂=11.8 we get|R^(DBR)|²=0.9999, and Δf_(R) ^(DBR)=29 GHz. Another observation thatcan be made from the above expressions is that the reflection magnitude|R^(DBR)|² can be made arbitrarily close to unity by increasing N;however the bandwidth of the DBR is mainly set by the dielectricconstants of the materials used and is independent on N.

Based on these design guidelines discussed herein (or using anelectromagnetic simulation tool), and given a certain f_(R) and stopbandbandwidth, embodiments provide principles to design a low-loss infraredfilter 200 that reflects off signals in the unwanted frequency rangewhile allowing microwave frequencies in the range of interest 5-15 GHzto get transmitted with little loss and little (or no) reflection.According to an embodiment, the design process involve choosing the typeof dielectric layers D1 and D2, calculating the thicknesses of thedielectric layers D1 and D2, deciding on the number (N) of layers D1 andD2 employed, and determining the dimensions of the striplinecross-section such that the higher order transverse magnetic field (TM)and traverse electric (TE) field supported by the stripline aresuppressed as much as possible.

In one implementation, it noted that one technique to effectivelyincrease the stopband bandwidth of the infrared radiation beyond what isachievable for a certain choice of dielectric layers is by concatenatingmultiple low-loss infrared filters 200 which have different centerfrequencies f_(R) and whose stopband bandwidths partially overlap.

One basic idea appreciated in the device 200 (which allows microwavesignals in the frequency range of interest (i.e., 5-15 GHz for qubitreadout) to be transmitted through the device 200 with littlereflection, while reflecting off most of the infrared radiation aroundf_(R) (i.e., the center frequency which the device is designed toblock)) is the large difference in scale of the correspondingwavelengths of these two frequency ranges (i.e., the frequency range ofinterest and the range around the center frequency f_(R)) compared tothe thicknesses of the alternating layers. While in the case of theinfrared radiation to be reflected off, the corresponding wavelengths ineach dielectric layer are about four times the thickness of the layer,in the case of the desired microwave signals the correspondingwavelengths in each dielectric layer are at least 30 times longer thanthe thickness of the layer. This difference in scale in the wavelengthsof the incident signals causes the infrared radiation to besignificantly more affected by the rapid variation of the dielectriclayers D1 and D2 than the microwave signals of interest, whicheffectively propagate along the stripline loaded by the periodic Braggstructure with very little perturbation.

In one implementation, the distributed Bragg structure that isintegrated into a transmission line geometry (stripline or coax) ismainly effective in reflecting off transverse electromagnetic (TEM)waves, and possibly transverse electric (TE) waves. The device may beless effective in reflecting off transverse magnetic (TM) waves. Twoknown microwave techniques that can be possibly applied in this device200 in order to suppress higher TE and TM modes in the striplinegeometry is by using shorting screws between the ground planes (the topand bottom outer conductors 205) and by limiting the ground planespacing to less than quarter wavelength of f_(R) according to anembodiment.

It is noted that the distributed Bragg reflector 100 is integrated intoa transmission line which together form the filter 200. Particularly,the outer conductor 205 and the center conductor 210 with the dielectricmaterial in between is a stripline geometry and it is a type of atransmission line.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the low-loss infrared filter 200taken along line A-A according to an embodiment. FIG. 3 shows that thecenter conductor 210 has a width W in the x-axis.

Although only dielectric layer D1 is illustrated in the cross-sectionalview of FIG. 3, the height of the dielectric layers D1 and D2 is height2 b in the y-axis. In particular, a height 1 b extends up from thecenter of the dielectric layer D1 (dielectric layer D2 or centerconductor 210) and another height 1 b extends down. Given a certainchoice of alternating dielectric layers D1 and D2 with dielectricconstants ∈₁ and ∈₂ and corresponding thicknesses t₁ and t₂, it ispossible to approximately evaluate the effective dielectric constantseen by microwave signals in the range of interest 5-15 GHz (which hasrelatively long wavelengths compared to t₁ and t₂) by using a weightedaverage given by ∈_(eff)≈(∈₁t₁+∈₂t₂)/(t₁+t₂). Combining this calculatedvalue of effective dielectric constant ∈_(eff) with the requirement thatthe microwave signals in the range of interest see a characteristicimpedance Z₀ of 50 Ohm, yields an estimate for the ratio W/2 b.Therefore, the dimensions W and b of the device 200 are not independentof each other. The design formula that yields a relatively good estimatefor the ratio W/2 b is a known microwave textbook result given by

$\frac{W}{2\; b} = \left\{ {\begin{matrix}x & {{{for}\mspace{14mu}\sqrt{ɛ_{eff}}Z_{0}} < 120} \\{0.85 - \sqrt{0.6 - x}} & {{{for}\mspace{14mu}\sqrt{ɛ_{eff}}Z_{0}} > 120}\end{matrix},{{{where}\mspace{14mu} x} = {\frac{30\;\pi}{\sqrt{ɛ_{eff}}Z_{0}} - {0.441.}}}} \right.$

Again, although only dielectric layer D1 is illustrated in thecross-sectional view of FIG. 3, the width of each of the dielectriclayers D1 and D2 is 2 a in the x-axis. In particular, a width 1 aextends left from the center of the dielectric layer D1 (dielectriclayer D2 or center conductor 210) and another width 1 a extends right.The particular condition that the width 2 a should satisfy is 2 a>>2 bso that the fields around the center conductor are not perturbed by thesidewalls.

FIG. 4A is a schematic of an architecture/microwave apparatus 400 (qubitreadout system) incorporating the low-loss infrared filter 200 andillustrates measurement of the quantum system in transmission accordingto an embodiment. FIG. 4B is a schematic of the architecture/microwaveapparatus 400 (qubit readout system) incorporating the low-loss infraredfilter 200 and illustrates measurement of the quantum system inreflection according to an embodiment. When the readout resonator worksin transmission, the input and output signals do not share the sametransmission line, and without loss of generality the input signalenters from the left and the output signal exits from the right asdepicted in FIG. 4A. When the readout resonator works in reflection,both the input and output signals share the same transmission line asdepicted in FIG. 4B.

The architecture/microwave apparatus 400 includes a superconductingcavity-qubit system 405. The superconducting cavity-qubit system 405 mayinclude a two-dimensional (2D) microwave cavity or a three-dimensional(3D) microwave cavity.

The superconducting cavity-qubit system 405 includes a superconductingqubit 410 and a readout resonator 415 designed to read (i.e., probe) thestate of the superconducting qubit 410. In one implementation, thesuperconducting qubit 410 may be a transmon qubit that includes aJosephson junction. The superconducting qubit 410 may be capacitivelycoupled to the readout resonator 415. The readout resonator 415 mayinclude an inductor and capacitor, coplanar waveguide resonator, and/orcoplanar strip line resonator. Note that although the superconductingqubit 410 may be a transmon qubit circuit for explanation purposes, itis understood that the superconducting qubit 410 is not meant to belimited and applies to other superconducting qubits circuits that arenot transmon qubit circuits.

The input side and output side of the superconducting cavity-qubitsystem 405 are connected to transmission lines 490. An on-chipsuperconducting (lossless) circulator 430 is connected to thecavity-qubit systems 405. After a signal is input into/received by oneport of the on-chip superconducting circulator 430, the signal is outputthrough the next port after rotating counter clockwise (i.e., in thedirection of the arrow). The on-chip superconducting circulator 430 mayhave three or four ports. This example shows the on-chip superconductingcirculator 430 with the first port connected to the output of thecavity-qubit system 405. The second port of the on-chip superconductingcirculator 430 is connected to a quantum limited Josephson directionalamplifier (JDA) 480. The third port of the on-chip superconductingcirculator 430 is connected to one or more filters 482 at the mixingchamber and at higher temperature stages. The output of the filters 482may be connected to a high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) amplifier486, and the output of high electron mobility transistor (HEMT)amplifier 486 is connected to OUT2.

The fourth port of the on-chip superconducting circulator 430 isconnected to a 50 ohm (Ω) termination point 484. In another embodiment,the port 484 may be utilized as an input line to input, e.g., a readoutsignal to the qubit and readout resonator system 405 or systems.

Please note that in FIGS. 4A and 4B many microwave and cryogeniccomponents, which are commonly used in typical superconducting qubitexperiments at the different stages of the dilution fridge 491, as wellas the room-temperature equipment employed to control and measure thesequbits, are not included in the figures for clarity and simplicity.

The quantum limited Josephson directional amplifier (JDA) 480 isconnected to a directional coupler 488. The directional coupler 488 isconnected to a bandpass filter 493. The output of the bandpass filter493 is connected to the low-loss infrared filter 200. The output of thelow-loss infrared filter 200 is connected to another high electronmobility transistor (HEMT) amplifier 492, such that the HEMT amplifier492 receives and amplifies the output readout signal. The amplifiedreadout signal is transmitted to measurement equipment 455 (via OUT1).

In FIG. 4A, a signal generator 470 is configured to generate a microwavesignal at the qubit resonant frequency (f_(q)) of the superconductingqubit 410, and this qubit signal 481 (f_(q)) is input into thecavity-qubit system 405. The input qubit resonant frequency signal 481,initializes, manipulates, or controls the superconducting qubit 410. Tomeasure or infer the state of the superconducting qubit 410, an inputreadout signal 485 is generated by the signal generator 470 or adifferent generator and sent to the cavity-qubit system 405. The inputreadout signal 485 is input into the readout resonator 415 at resonance(or close to resonance of the readout resonator 415). The output readoutsignal 450 (f_(s)) leaving the readout resonator 415, after interactingdispersively with the qubit 410, carries (quantum) information about thesuperconducting qubit 410 state, i.e., whether the qubit is in theground state, excited state, and/or in a superposition of these twostates. This qubit information is encoded in either the phase and/oramplitude of the output readout signal 450. The output readout signal450 is the resonator readout signal that is output from the readoutresonator 415.

The output readout signal 450 is transmitted on the microwave outputtransmission line 490 to the on-chip circulator 430. The on-chipcirculator 430 is an integrated circuit designed to (rotationally)direct the resonator output readout signal 450 to the low-loss infraredfilter 200 via the quantum limited Josephson directional amplifier (JDA)480, the directional coupler 488, and the bandpass filter 493. Thelow-loss infrared filter 200 is the distributed Bragg reflector 100integrated into a transmission line as shown in FIG. 2. This filter 200is designed to reflect/block the infrared radiation 460 coming down theoutput line and originating from higher temperature stages, and thus thelow-loss infrared filter 200 protects the qubit-resonator systems fromthis noise.

In one implementation, it is noted that the frequency of input readoutsignal 485 may be different than the frequency of the output readoutsignal 450 depending on whether the circulator 430 preserves or convertsthe frequency. If the circulator 430 preserves the frequency of theinput readout signal 485, then the input readout signal 485 has the samefrequency as the output readout signal 450). In another implementation,the circulator 430 may up-convert the frequency of output readout signal450 such that the output readout signal 450 has a higher frequency thanthe input readout signal 485. In yet another implementation, thecirculator 430 may down-convert the frequency of the output readoutsignal 450 such that output readout signal 450 has a lower frequencythan the input readout signal 485.

In another implementation when the on-chip circulator 430 has 3 portsand the port to the filters 482 is not present, any excess backaction ofthe JDA 480 and unwanted noise coming down the output chain within thebandwidth of the on-chip circulator 430 are routed to the 50 ohmtermination 484 present on the third port of the on-chip circulator 430.

When the output readout signal 450 signal or its equivalent (i.e., incase the circulator up-converts/down-converts the frequency of theprocessed signal) passes through the quantum limited Josephsondirectional amplifier 480, the quantum limited Josephson directionalamplifier 480 is configured to amplify the output readout signal 450with the lowest added noise required by quantum mechanics. The quantumlimited Josephson directional amplifier 480 has lower added noise thanthe high electron mobility transistor amplifier 492. Quantumnondemolition (QND) measurements often require probing a quantum system(such as the cavity-qubit system 405) with a signal containing only afew microwave photons. Measuring such a weak signal with high fidelityin the microwave domain requires using a high-gain, low-noise chain ofamplifiers (including the quantum limited Josephson directionalamplifier 480). However, state-of-the-art amplifiers, such as thosebased on high electron mobility transistors (HEMT), are not quantumlimited, and HEMT amplifiers may add the noise equivalent of about 20photons at the signal frequency when referred back to the input. HEMTamplifiers can also have strong in-band and out-of-band backaction onthe quantum system. In an attempt to minimize the noise added by theoutput chain, quantum-limited amplifiers based on parametric processeshave been recently developed and used as preamplifiers before the HEMT.These quantum-limited devices, however, amplify in reflection and someof them have in addition strong reflected pump tones in-band whichcauses undesirable excess backaction on the quantum system. Thesequantum-limited devices also do not protect the measured system frombackaction originating higher up in the amplification chain. Thus,nonreciprocal devices, such as circulators and isolators, are requiredin these measurements both to separate input from output and to protectthe quantum system from unwanted backaction. The quantum limitedJosephson directional amplifier 480 is directional and is intended toamplify in one direction. In one implementation, the quantum limitedJosephson directional amplifier 480 comprises two nominally identicalnondegenerate quantum-limited amplifiers, known as the Josephsonparametric converter (JPC), coupled together through their signal andidler ports. Josephson parametric converter (JPC) is a phase preservingamplifier that adds in principle a half photon of noise at the signalfrequency when referred back to the input.

Further information regarding the quantum limited Josephson directionalamplifier may be found in a paper entitled “Josephson DirectionalAmplifier for Quantum Measurement of Superconducting Circuits”, byBaleegh Abdo, Katrina Sliwa, S. Shankar, Michael Hatridge, LuigiFrunzio, Robert Schoelkopf, and Michel Devoret, in Department of AppliedPhysics, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. 06520, USA, (Received 25 Nov.2013; published 22 Apr. 2014), which is herein incorporated byreference.

In another implementation, the quantum limited Josephson directionalamplifier 480 may be a different Josephson amplifier which isdirectional and quantum limited or operates near the quantum limit. Oneexample of such amplifier is the traveling wave parametric amplifier.

In another implementation, the quantum limited Josephson directionalamplifier 480 may be a quantum limited Josephson amplifier that is notdirectional, i.e., working in reflection. In such a case when thequantum limited Josephson amplifier works in reflection, the on-chipcirculator 430 is connected between the quantum limited Josephsonamplifier 480 and the cavity-qubit system 405, in order for theresonator-qubit system 405 to be protected from any signals reflectedfrom the amplifier 480 and also separate input from output signalspropagating on the same transmission line.

FIG. 4B is a variation of the previous setup (in FIG. 4A) to illustratean example of measurement of qubit-resonator systems in reflectionaccording to an embodiment. In FIG. 4B, the measurement in reflectionmethod may be more suitable for measuring one readout resonator, whilethe transmission method in FIG. 4A may be more beneficial when couplingseveral readout resonators to a common bus and multiplexing the readout.In FIG. 4B, IN1 is connected to port 1 of the circulator 430, theresonator-qubit system 405 is connected to port 2, the quantum limitedamplifier 480 is connected to port 3, and the output line (OUT2) isconnected to port 4. Moreover, if the isolation provided by a singlestage circulator is insufficient, the quantum limited amplifier and theresonator-qubit system can be alternatively separated by two or morecirculators connected in series.

Please note that FIGS. 4A and 4B do not show microwave pump lines orDC-lines that might be utilized in order to bias or operate thecirculator, the quantum-limited amplifier, and/or the HEMTs. It isunderstood these microwave pump lines or DC-lines are connected orconnectable to the system.

In FIGS. 4A and 4B, the directional coupler 488 may be a 4 port circuitwhere one port is coupled to the input port with predefined attenuation,the output port is coupled with no attenuation to the input port, andthe last port is isolated from the input port. The ports of thedirectional coupler 488 are (ideally) matched, and the circuit is(ideally) lossless. Directional couplers can be realized in microstrip,stripline, and waveguide. The input IN2 is utilized to send a testsignal into the directional coupler 488 through the coupled port and outof the input port in order to tune the quantum limited Josephsondirectional amplifier 480 and/or the lossless circulator 430 to aworking point. The directional coupler 488 is shown on the right side(output side) of the quantum limited Josephson directional amplifier480. However, as another option, the directional coupler 488 may insteadbe connected to the left side (input side) of the quantum limitedJosephson directional amplifier 480. In that case, if the purpose ofadding the directional coupler is to set the working point of thedirectional amplifier or verify its operation condition independently ofthe qubit-resonator systems, the input port of the directional coupleris to be connected to the input port of the directional amplifier, IN2is to be connected to the coupled port of the directional coupler, andthe output port of the directional coupler is to be connected to thecorresponding circulator port. If on the other hand the purpose ofadding the directional coupler is to set the working point of thecirculator or verify its operation condition, the input port of thedirectional coupler would be connected to the corresponding circulatorport, IN2 is to be connected to the coupled port of the directionalcoupler, and the output port of the directional coupler is to beconnected to the input of the directional amplifier port. In anyconfiguration, it is appreciated that the attenuation on the coupledport of the directional coupler is high enough, e.g., 20 dB, in order toprevent power leakage of the readout signal through the auxiliary inputline IN2. A lossless version of the directional coupler 488 in thefrequency band of interest can be implemented using a superconductingcircuit.

The bandpass filter 493 is a filter that allows a band of frequencies topass through, where the microwave frequency band encompasses thefrequencies of the microwave output readout signals 450. Thus, themicrowave frequency band that passes through the bandpass filter 493should cover at least the band of output microwave signals used in thereadout of the various qubits connected to the circulator 430. Themicrowave frequency band of the bandpass filter 493 also needs to beslightly narrower or match the frequency band of the circulator.Accordingly, the bandpass filter 493 provides protection/isolation forthe qubit-cavity systems by blocking signals propagating in theunwanted/opposite direction whose frequencies fall above and below theparticular microwave frequency band encompassing the microwave outputreadout signals 450.

According to an embodiment, the cavity-qubit system 405, the on-chipsuperconducting circulator 430, the quantum limited Josephsondirectional amplifier 480, the directional coupler 488, the bandpassfilter 493, and/or the low-loss infrared filter 200 may all be formed onthe same integrated chip 498. In another embodiment, the low-lossinfrared filter 200 may not be included on the integrated chip 498

The integrated chip 498 may be placed in a dilution refrigerator 491.The dilution refrigerator 491 is a cryogenic device that providescontinuous cooling to temperatures, e.g., as low as 2 millikelvin (mK),with no moving parts in the low-temperature region. The cooling power isprovided by the heat of mixing of the Helium-3 and Helium-4 isotopes. Itis considered the only continuous refrigeration method for reachingtemperatures below 0.3 K.

The on-chip superconducting circulator 430 is not a commercial cryogeniccirculator that is bulky and large. Commercial cryogenic circulatorshave insertion loss which means that the signal passing through themgets attenuated. Also, commercial cryogenic circulators use magneticmaterials which are not compatible with superconducting qubits or thematerial of the superconducting qubits. However, the proposed on-chipsuperconducting circulator 430 is compatible with the superconductingqubit 410 and includes no magnetic material. By using the on-chipsuperconducting circulator 430, microwave connectors, coaxial lines,lossy isolators, and/or cryogenic circulators can be eliminated. Oneexample of an on-chip superconducting circulator may be a four-port,lossless, on-chip microwave circulator using a compact design ofJosephson parametric converters (JPCs) and hybrids. The JPC, which isnormally used as a phase-preserving quantum-limited amplifier, isoperated here in a pure conversion mode with unity photon gain. Thenon-reciprocity of the on-chip microwave circulator device is induced bya phase difference between the pump signals feeding two JPCs sharing acommon idler port. The circulation direction in this scheme whichdepends on the phase difference between the pump signals feeding the twoJPCs can be reversed much more rapidly than by changing the direction ofthe permanent magnetic field that sets the circulation direction incommercial circulators and isolators. Furthermore, since the on-chipmicrowave circulator device consists only of purely dispersivecomponents and it is operated in pure frequency conversion mode (withoutphoton gain), the circulator does not add any noise to signals itprocesses.

Another example of an on-chip circulator can be found in a paperentitled “On-chip superconducting microwave circulator from syntheticrotation” by Joseph Kerckhoff, Kevin Lalumiére, Benjamin J. Chapman,Alexandre Blais, and K. W. Lehnert1, dated: Feb. 24, 2015, cited asarXiv:1502.06041 [quant-ph].

Waveguides may be utilized as the transmission lines 490 to physicallyconnect various elements to the cavity-qubit system 405. Examples of themicrowave transmission line 490 may include a microstrip, coplanarwaveguide, strip line or coaxial cable, etc.

It is noted that the cavity-qubit system 405, the on-chip circulator430, quantum limited Josephson directional amplifier 480, and bandpassfilter 493 may be formed of superconducting materials. Examples ofsuperconducting material include niobium, aluminum, niobium titaniumnitride, and/or titanium nitride.

Further, the on-chip superconducting circulator 430 is configured topreserve, upconvert, and/or downconvert the frequency of the processedsignal upon transmission between sequential ports (that lie in thedirection of the rotation arrow). For example, for a 4 port circulatorwith a rotation arrow which indicates unity transmission from port 1 to2, 2 to 3, 3 to 4, and 4 to 1 but not in the opposite direction, ports 1and 3 of the circulator might support an equal or different frequencyband than ports 2 and 4. Or more specifically, if we denote the centerfrequency of the frequency band supported by ports 1 and 3 as (f_(s))and the center frequency of the frequency band supported by ports 2 and4 (f_(i)), then in the case that f_(s)=f_(i), the circulator preservesthe frequency of the processed signal. However, in the case f_(s)<f_(i),then the processed signal is upconverted upon transmission from port 1to 2, and 3 to 4, but downconverted upon transmission from port 2 to 3,and 4 to 1. Likewise, in the complimentary case f_(s)>f_(i), then theprocessed signal is downconverted upon transmission from port 1 to 2,and 3 to 4, but upconverted upon transmission from port 2 to 3, and 4to 1. Hence, by connecting for example port 1 of such circulator to theoutput of the cavity-qubit systems 405 and port 2 to the input of thedirectional amplifier 480, then the output readout signal 450 enteringthe circulator through port 1 at frequency f_(s) might or might not beequal to the frequency f_(i) of the output readout signal 450 coming outof the circulator through port 2 and entering the directional amplifier480.

The quantum limited Josephson directional amplifier 480 and themicrowave bandpass filter 493 are both set to operate and transmitwithin a certain frequency band around (f_(i)) of the output readoutsignal 450.

In one implementation, the qubit-readout system 405 maybe be onequbit-readout system or several qubit-readout systems. For example,multiple readout resonators may be capacitively coupled to a sharedmicrowave bus. In other words, the output line can serve severalqubit-readout resonator systems as long as 1) the corresponding readoutfrequencies of the multiple readout resonators fall within thebandwidths of the circulator, JDA, directional coupler, bandpass filter,low-loss IR filter, and HEMT; and 2) the maximum input power of both theJDA and on-chip circulator is larger than the total power of the readoutsignals applied simultaneously.

According to embodiments, the readout scheme discussed herein allowsmeasurement of superconducting qubits with high fidelity and highefficiency especially when performing a quantum nondemolitionmeasurement of the qubit states, while at the same time provide themeasured qubits with sufficient amount of protection against noisecoming down the amplification chain/output line and also minimize thefootprint of the necessary microwave components in the mixing chamber.In order to better understand how this readout scheme achieves thesegoals, a brief description is provided of the roles played by the maincomponents in the setup. The particular role of the on-chip losslesscirculator is to protect the qubits from microwave noise coming down theoutput line within the bandwidth of the circulator which ideally matchesor overlaps the bandwidth of the readout resonators connected to one ofits ports. Examples of such unwanted noise include excess backaction ofthe directional amplifier or noise coming back from the HEMT. Theparticular role of the quantum limited directional amplifier is tosignificantly improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the output chaincompared to the case in which only the HEMT amplifier is present. Inorder to achieve that, the quantum limited directional amplifier doesnot add more noise to the processed signal than the minimum amountrequired by quantum mechanics. The quantum limited directional amplifieralso needs to have enough power gain in order to overcome (beat) thenoise added by the subsequent HEMT amplifier, and enough bandwidth toamplify the readout signals coming from the readout resonators. Inaddition, the requirement (but not necessity) that the quantum limiteddirectional amplifier is directional, minimizes the amount ofcirculators/isolators that need to be added in between the amplifier andthe qubit-readout systems in order to protect the qubits from thereflected amplified signals and allow the separation of input fromoutput signals propagating on the same transmission lines. Consequently,this reduction in hardware minimizes the footprint of the setup andminimizes the amount of insertion loss associated with the addition ofintermediate stages between the readout resonators and thequantum-limited amplifier such as off-chip circulators, transmissionlines, and connectors. Hence, by pairing a lossless circulator with aquantum directional amplifier (possibly) on the same chip, embodimentsreduce to a minimum the amount of loss experienced by the readout signalbetween the readout systems and the quantum-limited amplifier, andconsequently achieve a high efficiency measurement (i.e., minimize theloss of quantum information carried by the readout signal). Theparticular role of the microwave bandpass filter and the low-lossinfrared filter is to allow the transmission of the readout signals upthe output line with minimum attenuation (i.e., minimum degradation ofthe signal-to-noise ratio), that is in order to maintain high efficiencyand high fidelity measurements of the qubits, while at the same timeshield the directional amplifier, circulator, and qubits coupled toreadout resonators from certain out-of-band noise in the microwave andinfrared domains respectively. Furthermore, the benefit of integratingall or most of these elements on the same chip with or without thequbit-cavity systems and infrared filter makes this readout schemehighly suitable for scalable architectures of quantum processors.

Now turning to FIGS. 5A and 5B, a flow chart 500 of method forconfiguring the microwave apparatus 400 is provided according to anembodiment.

At block 505, the cavity-qubit system 405 (or cavity-qubit systemscoupled for example to a common bus) comprising the superconductingqubit 410 (or qubits) and the readout resonator 415 (or resonators) isprovided, and the cavity-qubit system 405 (or systems) is configured tooutput a microwave output readout signal 450 (or signals).

At block 510, the lossless superconducting circulator 430 is configuredto receive the microwave output readout signal 450 from the cavity-qubitsystem 405 on one port and transmit on a different port the microwaveoutput readout signal 450 (which might have a different frequency whenfrequency conversion has been performed by the circulator 430) accordingto a rotation.

At block 515, the quantum limited Josephson directional amplifier 480 isconfigured to amplify the microwave output readout signals 450, suchthat amplification takes place in one direction.

At block 520, the directional coupler 488 is connected to the quantumlimited directional amplifier 480, and the directional coupler 488 isconfigured to enable biasing and/or to set a working point for thequantum limited directional amplifier 480 and/or the circulator.

At block 525, the microwave bandpass filter 493 is connected andconfigured to transmit in the microwave frequency band, and themicrowave bandpass filter 493 is configured to pass the microwave outputreadout signal 450 while blocking electromagnetic radiation outside ofthe microwave readout frequency band. The microwave bandpass filter 493is operatively connected to the quantum limited directional amplifier480 to receive input of the microwave output readout signal 450.

At block 530, the distributed Bragg reflector integrated into atransmission line is configured as a low-loss infrared filter 200 thatblocks infrared electromagnetic radiation 460 while passing themicrowave output readout signal 450, and the low-loss infrared filter isoperatively connected to the microwave bandpass filter 493 to receiveinput of the microwave output readout signal 450.

The integrated circuit chip 498 comprises the cavity-qubit system 405,the on-chip superconducting circulator 430, the quantum limitedJosephson directional amplifier 480, the directional coupler 488, themicrowave bandpass filter 493, and the low-loss infrared filter 200. Theintegrated circuit chip 498 is placed in a dilution refrigerator 491.

The microwave apparatus 400 includes a high electron mobility transistoramplifier 492. The high electron mobility transistor amplifier 492 isoperatively connected to the low-loss infrared filter 200 to receiveinput of the microwave output readout signal 450 with the infraredradiation 460 coming in the opposite direction filtered out.

The directional coupler 488 is configured to send a microwave tone (viaIN2) to the quantum limited directional amplifier 480 to set the workingpoint for the quantum limited directional amplifier 480. The microwavetone can also be configured to pass through the quantum limiteddirectional amplifier 480 to the on-chip superconducting circulator 430.The on-chip superconducting circulator 430 is configured to receive themicrowave tone and transmit it to a next port (e.g., connected tofilters 482 for a 4 port circulator or connected to the 50Ω terminationport 484 for a 3 port circulator) that is not connected to thecavity-qubit system 405.

The quantum limited directional amplifier 480 comprises one or twoJosephson parametric converters (JPCs) and hybrids. The on-chipsuperconducting circulator 430 comprises Josephson parametric converters(JPCs) and hybrids.

The distributed Bragg reflector in the low-loss infrared filter 200comprises a unit cell 110 of at least two different dielectric layers D1and D2. The unit cell repeats to have a total of N dielectric layers225. The distributed Bragg reflector in the low-loss infrared filter 200comprises a first dielectric layer D1 and a second dielectric layer D2adjacent to the first dielectric layer D1. The first dielectric layer D1has a first dielectric constant ∈₁. The second dielectric layer D2 has asecond dielectric constant ∈₂ different from the first dielectricconstant ∈₁. The first dielectric layer D1 has a first thickness t₁, andthe second dielectric layer D2 has a second thickness t₂.

The low-loss infrared filter 200 comprises a center conductor strip line210 formed through the first dielectric layer and the second dielectriclayer. The low-loss infrared filter 200 comprises an outer conductor 205encompassing the first dielectric layer D1 and the second dielectriclayer D2, and the center conductor strip line extends through the outerconductor in a lengthwise direction. The low-loss infrared filter 200comprises a first connector 350A and a second connector 250B, bothconnected to opposite ends of the center conductor strip line 210 in thelengthwise direction. An outer conductor of the first and secondconnectors 250A, 250B connects to the outer conductor of the low-lossinfrared filter 200.

FIG. 6 is a graph 600 illustrating a calculated waveform 610 for thereflection R and a waveform 605 for the transmission T of the low-lossinfrared filter 200 comprising the distributed Bragg reflector 100according to an embodiment. An example design for the distributed Braggreflector and setup is discussed but it should be appreciated that thedesign may be adjusted for different blackbody radiation temperaturesand/or to reflect/block different frequency bands.

In this design example, the low-loss infrared filter 200 is designed toreflect/block an infrared frequency band having a center frequency atf_(R)=83 gigahertz (GHz) whose wavelength in vacuum is given byλ_(R)=c/f_(R), where c is the velocity of light in vacuum. The reflectedinfrared frequency band may be about 30 GHz. In the graph 600, thex-axis depicts the frequency in GHz. The y-axis depicts in decibels (dB)the power reflection parameter |R|² and the power transmission parameter|T|² of the low-loss infrared filter 200.

In this design example, the dielectric layers D1 and D2 are SiO (∈=3.9)and Si (∈=11.8), respectively. The distributed Bragg reflector 100 has Ntotal layers where N=30, has thickness t₁=456 μm (for dielectric layerD1), and has thickness t₂=262 μm (for dielectric layer D2). The lengthof the center conductor 210 corresponds to the thickness of the total Ndielectric layers.

In FIGS. 4A and 4B, the microwave output side is designed to have allelements with a characteristic impedance of 50Ω in the range 1-15 GHz.Accordingly, the experimenters design the low-loss infrared filter 200,cast in the form of a stripline loaded with a distributed Braggreflector, to have a matching characteristic impedance of Z₀=50Ω. Theeffective dielectric constant ∈_(eff) of the dielectric layers D1 and D2as seen by microwave signals in the range 1-15 GHz is about 6.8 whichcan be approximately estimated as the weighted average of the dielectricconstants of the two alternating dielectric layers∈_(eff)≈(∈₁t₁+∈₂t₂)/(t₁+t₂). Regarding the dimensions (inside) of thecopper box (outer conductor) 205—which roughly yields a characteristicimpedance of Z₀=50Ω in the frequency range of interest—the width 2 a ofeach of the dielectric layers D1, D2 corresponds to a=12.5 mm such that2 a=25 mm, and the height 2 b of each of the dielectric layers D1, D2corresponds to b=2 mm such that 2 b=4 mm. The width W of the centerconductor 210 (e.g., copper stripline) is W=1.14 mm and the length L ofthe center conductor is L=10.77 mm.

The transmission waveform (|T|²) 605 shows that the low-loss infraredfilter 200 has more than 60 dB attenuation at the center frequency 83GHz; which means that the transmitted power through the low-lossinfrared filter 200 at the center frequency 83 GHz is reduced by afactor of more than 10⁶. The waveform also shows that the deviceeffectively blocks transmission around the center frequency within theband 68-98 GHz (which corresponds to |T|²≤0.5 in linear scale, and|T|²≤−3 dB in logarithmic scale). Furthermore, the transmission in themicrowave band of interest 5-15 GHz ranges is between 0 to −1.4 dB,which means that readout signals that fall within this band experience,in general, very little attenuation when passing through the device. Inparticular, those readout signals have frequencies that correspond totransmission parameters that are very close to 0 dB within that band.

The reflection waveform (|R|²) 610 shows that the low-loss infraredfilter 200 has 0 dB reflection (unity reflection) at the centerfrequency 83 GHz, and almost unity reflection in the IR band 68-98 GHz(which corresponds to |R|²≥0.5 in linear scale, and |R|²≥−3 dB inlogarithmic scale), thus effectively blocking power transmission withinthis band.

It will be noted that various microelectronic device fabrication methodsmay be utilized to fabricate the components/elements discussed herein asunderstood by one skilled in the art. In superconducting andsemiconductor device fabrication, the various processing steps fall intofour general categories: deposition, removal, patterning, andmodification of electrical properties.

Deposition is any process that grows, coats, or otherwise transfers amaterial onto the wafer. Available technologies include physical vapordeposition (PVD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), electrochemicaldeposition (ECD), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and more recently, atomiclayer deposition (ALD) among others.

Removal is any process that removes material from the wafer: examplesinclude etch processes (either wet or dry), and chemical-mechanicalplanarization (CMP), etc.

Patterning is the shaping or altering of deposited materials, and isgenerally referred to as lithography. For example, in conventionallithography, the wafer is coated with a chemical called a photoresist;then, a machine called a stepper focuses, aligns, and moves a mask,exposing select portions of the wafer below to short wavelength light;the exposed regions are washed away by a developer solution. Afteretching or other processing, the remaining photoresist is removed.Patterning also includes electron-beam lithography.

Modification of electrical properties may include doping, such as dopingtransistor sources and drains, generally by diffusion and/or by ionimplantation. These doping processes are followed by furnace annealingor by rapid thermal annealing (RTA). Annealing serves to activate theimplanted dopants.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of configuring an apparatus, the method comprising: providing an outer conductor with a distributed Bragg reflector in the outer conductor; and providing a center conductor through the distributed Bragg reflector, such that a low-loss filter is formed by the outer conductor, the distributed Bragg reflector, and the center conductor, wherein the center conductor is encircled by material forming the distributed Bragg reflector; wherein the distributed Bragg reflector comprises a unit cell of at least two different dielectric layers, the unit cell repeats such that one unit cell is formed adjacent to a next unit cell continuously in the redistributed Bragg reflector.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the low-loss filter is configured to block infrared electromagnetic radiation while passing a microwave signal; wherein the center conductor is continuous through a continuous repetition of the unit cell.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein a repetition of the one unit cell adjacent to the next unit cell is continuous throughout the distributed Bragg reflector without interruption.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the unit cell repeats to have a total of N dielectric layers.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the distributed Bragg reflector comprises a first dielectric layer and a second dielectric layer adjacent to the first dielectric layer.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first dielectric layer has a first dielectric constant.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the second dielectric layer has a second dielectric constant different from the first dielectric constant.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the low-loss filter comprises a first connector and a second connector, both connected to opposite ends of the low-loss filter.
 9. The method of claim 2, wherein the low-loss filter is configured to receive the microwave signal as a microwave readout signal.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the microwave readout signal includes quantum information.
 11. An apparatus comprising: an outer conductor housing a distributed Bragg reflector in the outer conductor; and a center conductor through the distributed Bragg reflector, such that a low-loss filter is formed by the outer conductor, the distributed Bragg reflector, and the center conductor, wherein the center conductor is encircled by material forming the distributed Bragg reflector; wherein the distributed Bragg reflector comprises a unit cell of at least two different dielectric layers, the unit cell repeats such that one unit cell is formed adjacent to a next unit cell continuously in the redistributed Bragg reflector.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the low-loss filter is configured to block infrared electromagnetic radiation while passing a microwave signal.
 13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein a repetition of the one unit cell adjacent to the next unit cell is continuous throughout the distributed Bragg reflector without interruption.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the unit cell repeats to have a total of N dielectric layers.
 15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the distributed Bragg reflector comprises a first dielectric layer and a second dielectric layer adjacent to the first dielectric layer.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the first dielectric layer has a first dielectric constant.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the second dielectric layer has a second dielectric constant different from the first dielectric constant.
 18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the low-loss filter comprises a first connector and a second connector, both connected to opposite ends of the low-loss filter.
 19. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the low-loss filter is configured to receive the microwave signal as a microwave readout signal.
 20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the microwave readout signal includes quantum information. 